Thứ Tư, 30 tháng 12, 2015

Making Parking Painless

A blue family car moves slowly down the street for the third time. Today, Saturday, the parking garages are already full and no one seems to have any intention of vacating one of the spots at the side of the road, either.

In American cities, drivers spend an average of eight minutes looking for a suitable spot. According to estimates, searching for parking spaces accounts for around 30% of congestion and a corresponding gasoline consumption, including carbon emissions.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could reserve a parking space in advance, in a parking garage ideally located for your shopping trip?

You can. With SAP Vehicles Network. With the new cloud software, companies can offer their customers integrated vehicle and mobility services, regardless of device or vehicle type. SAP Vehicles Network enables drivers in North America to use digital payment services or apps to share data from the Internet of Things, activate fuel pumps, pay directly at the fuel pump, reserve a parking space, open the barriers to private parking lots, and pay for parking.

SAP Vehicles Network uses the capabilities of SAP HANA Cloud Platform for the Internet of Things and offers participating companies and partners the opportunity to develop new kinds of mobility services and apps for consumers. As a result, drivers can benefit even more from mobile and geodata services. This new, end-to-end digital and mobile user experience spans the entire journey and even supports drivers before and after their trip. Furthermore, with SAP Vehicles Network, app providers and car manufacturers in key markets gain access to tens of thousands of parking garages and service stations with mobile payment facilities. Using digital wallets and third-party apps, they can then offer drivers and passengers an integrated digital experience that simplifies all processes related to driving.

In the United States alone, there are more than 100,000 parking garages with millions of parking spaces. Most of these are managed by a small number of operators. The technology enables them to react to customer requirements and increase sales: If drivers can book a parking space right by their destination, they save time and can enjoy a stress-free journey. However, a “convenience surcharge” is added to the parking fee for this service.

SAP is already cooperating with leading providers of parking space reservation services, including ParkWhiz and ParkingPanda, so that drivers can find spots quickly and efficiently in the area of their choice.

After successfully completing innovation projects with companies such as Volkswagen, Shell, VeriFone, Toyota, andBMW, SAP has joined forces with Samsung Pay, Fidelity National Information Services (FIS), Zipline, and P97 to also develop solutions for mobile payment at fuel pumps.